Budgetary constraints guided the Navy’s decision to decommission a Belle Chasse-based squadron whose sole mission was to help stem the flow of illegal narcotics using high-tech E-2C Hawkeye airplanes, the Navy said Thursday. Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 77, known as the Nightwolves, will officially close its doors on March 31, said Lt. Cmdr. Erin Wreski, program manager for Commander Naval Air Forces Reserve’s Tactical Support Wing.

“While this choice was difficult, it was within the limits or the resources available to the Navy,” according to a statement released Thursday. “There will always be the need to balance direct war fighting capability against missions like those assigned to VAW-77.”

It was the only squadron in the entire Navy solely dedicated to counter-narcotics and other crimes, a mission that meant air crews routinely deployed to Latin America and the Caribbean to work with other federal agencies.

Wreski said the squadron’s six Hawkeye airplanes will be transferred to other carrier airborne warning squadrons, while its sailors – 72 full timers and 40 selected reservists – will be reassigned to other reserve units. About 50 civilian contractors also worked for the squadron, to maintain the aircraft.

A “dis-establishment” ceremony will be March 9 at the air station, the Navy said.

Congress created the reserve squadron in 1995, in response to the nation’s “escalating

war on illegal drug trafficking,” The Navy said in the statement, in which the sea service said it “remains committed” to missions including counter-narcotics and human trafficking interdiction.